Bullish on Snap

Snap Inc. listed on the NYSE in March 2017 under the ticker, SNAP. P.C. The Guardian

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There was a time when I believed that Facebook (Meta) > Snapchat. As the years go by, I am more so believing it's the other way around. Amidst Meta's run-in's with the government and it's recent whistleblower fiasco, Snap has quietly focused on building up its capabilities and expanding into the fields of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR).

According to Snap, more than 5 billion Snapchats are created on average per day. As of Q3 2021, the app had 306 million daily active users (DAU) worldwide. Snap's numbers paled in compared to Facebook's 1.93 billion DAU in the same quarter.

In recent years, Meta has relied on hefty acquisitions and its lofty position in the tech space to continue its run as one of the world's most influential tech companies. Meta's earnest attempts to become a super-app– theWeChat of the West if you will– has not gone unnoticed. Its expansion into heavy hitting spaces such as AR/VR (Reality Labs + Oculus) and cryptocurrency (Libra) paints a clear picture that Meta has become a jack of all trades and master of none.

On the other hand, Snap is staying focused on their core business and is charting its own course. Evan Spiegel, Snap's CEO, maintained that Snap is a "camera company" before anything else. That's way more specific than Meta's broad allegiances to social media, tech, VR/AR, and now the metaverse.

With Lens Studio and AR try-on/business solutions, Snap is working toward empowering creators and businesses through an innovative reinvention of the camera. When I think of Snap's early days, cringey adolescent selfies and the infamous dog filter come to mind. Snap has come a long way since then, using their identity as a camera company as a north star in expanding into new verticals (ads, commerce, gaming, etc.).

For these reasons, I have faith that Snap will find continued success in its quest to reinvent the camera.